The congressman for California's 48th district wants you to think he's a supercool surf dude who feels your pain. He's actually a Russia-loving, Trump-worshiping coward who avoids his constituents as if they carried a deadly virus. Heck, try giving him a call. You'll never hear back (Unless you're pledging a big donation).

Laura Oatman: “Excite your base, get out the vote, and you will win.”

In response to the previous Crazy Dana entry, Laura Oatman wrote the following words. I want to thank her for taking the time to do so, and for running with passion and integrity.

I am definitely not going to bash you – but I do think you’re wrong. We have known, for a while now, that we have entered a strange land where the normal rules of politics don’t apply. We saw it in the 2016 election, we saw it in Alabama, and we will see it in the fall. As long as I’ve been around, the common wisdom was that Dems would get 40% of the vote, the Republicans 40%, and whoever could field a moderate candidate with appeal to that 20% would win.

And maybe that hasn’t completely disappeared, but it has been superseded by a more powerful rule: excite your base, get out the vote, and you will win.

Trump spent about half of what Clinton spent, but got within 2% of the votes Hillary did – and enough to get him into the White House. Not without her flaws, HRC was still the most qualified candidate – possibly in American history – and she was extremely moderate by today’s Progressive standards. So 1) huge war chest 2) smooth and polished candidate 3) moderate positioning. It didn’t help her, to my great regret.

Then you have Doug Jones, in Alabama. I was shocked to learn that 91% of GOP voters in that election *still* voted for Roy Moore. Doug Jones won, in large part, because he got one of the cores of his base – black women – to turn out big. As I’ve said often before, I will support whoever wins the primary 100%. But I also believe that of this field, I’m the only candidate who voters on the left can feel excited about, AND the only candidate who can bring the Republicans along, and you need both of these superficially opposing pieces to take out Dana Rohrabacher. I believe (as do many others) that I am the only candidate that can win.

There is an energy running through our country right now, in response to reality that we’ve all woken up to realize we are really in a fight to make sure this amazing country stays on the right course. That people and the planet need to be treated with care and respect. That there are people in power who don’t want to do either. This is a fight.

Much like my candidacy. We all know who the Democratic Party wants to win. We all know I’m a small businesswoman, not a multimillionaire who can self-fund in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. We are running this campaign from my kitchen table right now and I am proud and thankful of the thousands of hours our volunteers have put into this effort. The volunteer response has been terrific, and it is that same passion for change that *they* want so badly is what I believe translates into a victory in November.

In closing, I’ll address the “health woman” tag. I’m used to it. It’s a way to try and knock me down a peg. I am an Architect. I received a Masters in Architecture from UCLA, passed all 8 architectural licensing exams on the first try, then went the extra mile to get my LEED-accreditation so I could design environmentally friendly buildings. I have worked on sustainable green projects around the world. That is my profession. But we all have hobbies, we all have side interests, and healthy living is mine. I’m sure the other candidates have their side interests, but Hans is still “the Scientist”, Harley is still “the Realtor”, Omar is still “the Attorney”. Not one mention in your article of my profession, just my hobby. It’d be nice to live in a society where women are judged and labeled like men are, by their occupation, by their accomplishments, by their education, not by their hobbies, not by silly stories told and repeated over and over by men (and women) who feel intimidated by successful women. I would like to be a part of the journey that finally gets us to that place where women are FINALLY treated equally to men. It’s the least we can do for our daughters.

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Why Dana Wins

There was once a movie, "The Distinguished Gentleman." It was about a Florida congressman named Jeff Johnson who dies in office. There's an election to replace him, and Eddie Murphy, playing a local conman named Thomas Jefferson Johnson, wins by running as "Jeff Johnson." He figured (rightly) that the deceased Johnson was re-elected so often because people became so used to his name that they never even considered his ruinous ideas.
Just a thought.

Point on Dana

To be clear, this is nothing personal against Dana Rohrabacher. There's no hate, no call for violence. Nothing of the sort. It is simply the calling out of a painfully misguided man whose vision for his district, state and country is—at best—insane. And—at worst—dangerous.

Please reach out to us via e-mail (crazydana@mail.com) or on Twitter @crazydana48